The best practice for speed climbing is to practice speed climbing. When practicing, you need to be able to peddle hand then foot type climbing and you also need to be able to dyno 2 handed from move to move. Depending on how the route is set, one way might be faster than the other. At high level competitions, they usually change the sequence so that peddling is faster, then, dyno to dyno to dyno, then back to peddling. The trick is to recognize the sequence so you can execute either technique and change it mid-route as needed. Most important is a fast start, so make sure the first 3 moves are wired to get ahead and rattle your opponent.

This sounds like an anaerobic sprint, so don't both with Versaclimbers, burpees, etc (IMHO).

I assume it's going to be vertical or slightly slabby to focus more on max speed. Either way, your legs are going to do virtually all of the driving, so I'd work plyometric box jumps, tuck jumps (or double-unders with a jumprope), and maybe barbell thrusters (front squat, up to shoulder press in one movement).

And, of course, stairs in a stadium. 2-3 steps at a time, FAST.

Another explosive, anaerobic leg exercise I like is jumping lunges (or scissor lunges). Standing in place, jump from one lunge to the next without taking an interim stance. These should devastate your glutes and train fast-twitch fibers without adding mass.

How about Burpee pullups? I heard those work burst power but I'm sure how that could help with speed climbing.

All you need is a timer, and a pullup bar or something similiar that requires one to jump up and grab in order to do the pullup.

The goal is to do them as quickly as possible. Start off with 20 for example, and record how long it takes to do them.

Start by jumping up and grabbing the bar, do a pullup, drop down, do a pushup, spring back up on your feet and jump up to the bar. Thats 1 burpee pullup. 20 of them sounds pretty brutal (to me at least).

Just to add, you really need to work on your Type II muscle group, and one way of doing it, is doing reps as fast as you can.

I've adopted a "theme/motto" over the last few years. it is: "don't get injured during the training." Better to go off the couch and get injured in the performance than injured in the training and not get to do the performance. You may replace the word "performance" with "adventure" or "climbing trip," etc...

That said. YES- if you want to improve your speed climbing do an action with less weight and make the movement faster than you normally would.

cheers,

Hans

ps. I'm giving a clinic at Rockn & Jamn in Denver on Feb 19th. - but it's more about NIAD skills not comp speed climbing.

It's interesting to me that one of the most noted speed climbers in the country checked in on this subject and gets ignored.

I was at Stone Summit(SCS nationals gym for this year). They had the standard 30 foot speed route setup so I decided to try. It is a lot harder than it looks. I probably took 30 seconds or more to get up the 30 foot route.

The Team Texas youth team came over a few minutes later and one kid blasted off a 5.9 second sprint(literally he sprinted up the wall).

There is no replacement for simply practicing the standard route. The kids who do that a lot always have an advantage over the kids that don't.

I was at Stone Summit(SCS nationals gym for this year). They had the standard 30 meter speed route setup so I decided to try. It is a lot harder than it looks. I probably took 30 seconds or more to get up the 30 meter route.

The Team Texas youth team came over a few minutes later and one kid blasted off a 5.9 second sprint(literally he sprinted up the wall).

There is no replacement for simply practicing the standard route. The kids who do that a lot always have an advantage over the kids that don't.

The route that Stone Summit has up is not the full length route used in international speed comps.

The route that Stone Summit has up is not the full length route used in international speed comps.

It is the youth B, A, and juniors route that they will use at the "youth" nationals this summer, right? Is the route at Stone Summit the first 30 feet of the full 45 foot route for international competitions?